NEOWISE/WISE

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Mapping the celestial sky

Launched in December 2009, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer captured more than 2.7 million images and cataloged more than 747 million space objects while mapping the entire celestial sky in infrared light.

WISE discovered the first Y Dwarf and Earth Trojan asteroid, tens of thousands of new asteroids, and numerous previously undiscovered star clusters. After completing its primary mission in 2011, most of WISE’s electronics were turned off by NASA to preserve the spacecraft.

The mission was reactivated in 2013 to hunt for near-Earth objects (NEOs) and the mission was renamed NEOWISE. In its first year of reactivation, NEOWISE captured 2.5 million image sets, detecting and providing data on over 10,000 solar system objects. The data revealed 129 new solar system objects, including 29 previously undiscovered near-Earth objects.

What we did

Spacecraft provider

For the WISE/NEOWISE mission, we designed, built and tested the spacecraft, which is based on the Ball Configurable Platform-300 design. We also conducted flight system testing and support operations for both WISE and NEOWISE.